Kosmas, Michael S.

Lawyer Overview

Michael Kosmas is a seasoned business transactions lawyer who serves as co-chair of the firm's Global Hospitality/Leisure Team. His practice focuses on representing some of the most sophisticated players in the hospitality industry in a wide variety of corporate transactions including acquisition and disposition, development and financing of hotels and resorts. He has particular expertise in drafting and negotiating complex management contracts between hotel owners and operators. Mr. Kosmas has represented some of the world's largest hotel owners and operators in connection with the development, acquisition, disposition and financing of more than 300 hotel and resort properties around the globe. He is frequently called upon by clients to structure some of the hospitality industry's most challenging transactions including documenting strategic relationships between hotel owners, operators and developers.

Mr. Kosmas began representing the industry by negotiating hotel management contracts for Grand Heritage Hotels in the mid-1990s and ultimately counseled its principals on the sale of the company to Patriot American Hospitality.  He also represented Marriott International Inc. on numerous complex transactions and was detailed for six months to the Ritz-Carlton development team. Mr. Kosmas uses his extensive experience in the development of real estate and hotels and the negotiation of hotel management agreements and related documents for some of the key players in the global hospitality sector. He is a regular speaker at hospitality conferences around the world including the Americas Lodging Investment Summit, the NYU Hospitality Conference and the European Hotel Investment Conference.  Mr. Kosmas' professional career includes:

• Serving as counsel for Marriott International Inc. in negotiating four master management contracts with CNL Hospitality Inc. and Hospitality Properties Trust, two of the country's largest hospitality REITs, for four hotel portfolios including nearly 100 hotels and resorts.
• Serving as counsel for Marriott International Inc. in negotiating the hotel management contracts for the Paris Marriott and the Hamburg Marriott.
• Serving as lead counsel for the developer of the luxury resort and branded residential mixed use "Serrenia" community along the Red Sea in Egypt.
• Serving as lead development counsel to the owners of the Casa de Campo resort in La Romana, the Dominican Republican and representing them in connection with the development of the Four Seasons Casa de Campo.
• Serving as lead counsel for the developers of two Sheraton hotels in Central/Eastern European capital cities (Prague, Czech Republic and Riga, Latvia).
• Serving as lead counsel for the developers of two of the first eight Edition Hotels (a new Marriott brand created in concert with Ian Schrager).
• Serving as counsel to the District of Columbia and Broward County, FL in negotiations to develop 800 guest room and 1,000 guest room convention center hotels, respectively, adjacent to existing convention center facilities.
• Serving as lead counsel for Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc., a publicly traded REIT, in negotiating the acquisition of, and the hotel management contracts for, a portfolio of six Renaissance Hotels with Renaissance Hotel Management Co.
• Serving as lead counsel for Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. in negotiating the management contract with the Hyatt Corporation for the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.
• Serving as lead counsel for Hilton Hotels Corp. in negotiating the management contract for the Hilton Palmer House, Hilton's premier Chicago hotel.
• Serving as lead counsel for Hilton Hotels Corp. in developing a management contract for its new "Waldorf=Astoria" brand and negotiation of a management contract for a 1,000 room Hilton hotel and the first new-build 500-room Waldorf=Astoria brand hotel to be built in the Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando.
• Serving as lead counsel for Canyon Ranch in negotiating a management contract and related agreements for Canyon Ranch Living multi-use development to be developed in Bethesda, Maryland.
• Serving as lead counsel for KSL Recreation in negotiating the management contract for the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego, one of the country's best-known resorts.
• Serving as lead counsel for a joint venture between KB Urban Inc. and Anschutz Entertainment Group in negotiating the management contract with Marriott International for a to-be-constructed tower in downtown Los Angeles that will include a 1,000 room luxury hotel co-branded as a Ritz-Carlton and a Marriott Marquis.
• Serving as lead counsel to Fifth Avenue Partners in connection with the development of the Se San Diego Hotel and Suite & Tender Restaurant in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.
• Serving as lead counsel to various DLJ Real Estate Funds in connection with negotiating hotel franchise agreements with Marriott International, Inc.
• Serving as lead counsel to Investcorp International in connection with negotiating hotel franchise agreements with Marriott International, Inc.
• Serving as lender's counsel to General Electric Capital Corporation in connection with a hotel development loan to develop a TownPlace Suites Hotel in Albany, New York.
• Serving as lender's counsel to the Royal Bank of Scotland in connection with refinancing a real estate portfolio including a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Maryland.
• Serving as lender's counsel to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in connection with refinancing a Hilton Hotel in Tucson, Arizona.
• Serving as lead counsel to Loeb Partners Realty in connection with the acquisition during development of the Renaissance Boston Seaport and in the negotiation of a hotel management contract for the same.

Areas of Practice

• Hospitality/Leisure & Real Estate
• Hospitality/Leisure
• Real Estate

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia, 1999
• Maryland, 1993
• U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
• U.S. District Court District of Maryland

Education

• University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1993
  J.D.
• Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland, 1990
  B.A.

Address

811 4th Street, N.W., No. 908
WASHINGTON, DC 20001

Phones

202-293-1556 (Direct Dial)

Faxes

202-785-5605 (Fax)

Emails

Contact Us